TGI Fridays New Menu... Very Disappointing

I frequently visit TGI Fridays because I like the ambiance and the food they serve. Its actually one of my favorite restaurant in Ayala Center Cebu.

So after not visiting for a while since I have been based in SM lately, I dropped by the other day and was elated to see new dishes on the menu. So I decided to try their new food and boy I was so disappointed.

 

I ordered the Tortilla Soup (I love the Tortilla Soup of Army Navy) and Smokehouse Brisket since its snack time. When the Tortilla Soup arrived, the presentation was appetizing but when I scoop up a spoonful, the soup was too salty. It tasted like it has too much cheese and lacked the tortilla factor. It was really a let down for the price.

When the Smokehouse Brisket arrived, its was a total disaster in terms of presentation. Its like what you see online EXPECTATION VS REALITY.

 

Expectation vs Reality

When I took my first bite, the beef brisket was dry and the bread was a bit dry. After a few minutes, one of the servers came and gave me a plateful of fried onions which was supposed to be part of the sandwich. It was a total disappointment.

Calling the attention of TGI Fridays, if you want people to stay loyal to your brand, make sure to maintain and improve on your dishes. The new dishes you launch are a total disappointment though I haven't tried all of them. So far out of the two I have tasted, both are a disgrace to the name of TGI Fridays.

Please try at your own risk. I'm giving the new menu of TGI Fridays 🐷 1 Piggy.

Fujinoya, Best Specialty Coffee Shop in Cebu

First of all, lets get this straight, Fujinoya is different from Yoshinoya. Yoshinoya is a Japanese fast food chain that serves katsudon, donburi, sushi and ramen while Fujinoya is a Specialty Coffee Shop located at the heart of Lahug Cebu City.

I had a pleasure to visit this specialty coffee shop this afternoon and was delighted to meet the owner, Mr Tidow Gothong. Honestly, the reason why I got so interested to visit Fujinoya was because I can see in Tidow's Facebook and Instagram post about his dedication to specialty coffee. This perk up my interest so I decided to drop by.

Tidow is very friendly, down to earth and simple person. You can feel his love and passion about specialty coffee while talking to him.

I ordered their mocha latte because I love my coffee with a little chocolatey taste. I also ordered a Chicken with Cheese Sandwich and Japanese Cheesecake for dessert.

The mocha latte was very smooth. The chocolate in the coffee was not too sweet and the coffee did not taste bitter at all. The chicken with cheese sandwich was a bit bland, but it was just ok for my taste. The Japanese Cheesecake was the highlight of my visit. It was very smooth and creamy, perfect for my mocha latte.

Tidow shared to me how their coffees were made. Each cup was hand crafted from scratch and they used different coffee beans depending on the season. They import their coffee beans from Singapore, Brazil, Costa Rica and North America. I was very impressed with his vast knowledge on how specialty coffee was made.

I was craving for something cold after the warm cup of mocha latte and ask if they have anything cold. He recommended their Iced V60 coffee where the coffee beans were flown directly from Costa Rica. I was a bit hesitant at first since I had mocha latte and another coffee will keep me up the whole night. Tidow assured me that the coffee bean used were of the highest quality and the caffeine content is very mild. So I decided to try their Ice V60 coffee and I was glad I heeded to his suggestion.

The Ice V60 was very light and refreshing. It has a fruity after taste which surprised me because when I order Ice Coffee from mainstream coffee shops they usually have this bitter after taste. But the Ice V60 was very soft and smooth and it glided down my throat giving me a chilling sensation.

I had a very informative, educational and productive after with Tidow. This will be the first but definitely not the last trip to Fujinoya. I would highly recommend this coffee shop to all coffee lovers worldwide. If you happen to be in Cebu, Fujinoya is a must place to visit.

I'm giving Fujinoya my highest distinction of 🐷🐷🐷🐷🐷 five piggies!

The L in L' Artisan

After a stressful day at work, my wife and I decided to have a mid week dinner date.  We decided to try this new place in Oakridge called L'Artisan.

This is not the first time we visited this restaurant. My wife's cousin invited us last February for a gathering and we were very impressed with the food, thus bringing us back for more.

As we entered the L' Artisan, the waiter graciously greeted us and escorted us to a vacant table. The place was quite full for a weekday crowd. As we settled down, I can not help but admire the simple but intricate design of their furniture. The ambiance of the place was perfect for a romantic date.

The waiter assisted us in choosing our food. I'm very impressed with our waiter, he knew how to pronounce the food on the menu (some of the entrees in the menu are in French) and he knew how to describe them

 

We ordered Moules Mariniére (Mussels cooked in white wine, parsley and garlic) for starters

For our main course, my wife ordered the Char Grilled Angus Beef Rib Eye Steak

While I decided to order the Bacon Wrapped Chicken Breast with Grilled Vegetables

The Moules Mariniére was excellent. The mussels were cooked to perfection. The combination of the white wine, parsley and garlic makes this dish a gastronomic feast

The Char Grilled Angus Beef Rib Eye Steak was the best dish of the night. The Angus Beef was grilled just right, no blood, not overcooked. 300 grams of Angus Beef was good enough for sharing. 

The Bacon Wrapped Chicken Breast was prepared simply yet flavorful. Despite having the bacon wrapped around the chicken breast, when you take a bite into the dish, you can distinguish the smoky flavor of the bacon and the juiciness of the chicken breast.  A very light and refreshing dish which the weight watchers will love.

To cap off the night, the owner Ma'am Harley let us try their newest dessert Banana Flambee which will be part of their new menu this coming April 15, 2016. 

The sweet mix of syrup and rhum cooked together with the banana, and the creamy goodness of the vanilla ice cream made this dessert to die for. A perfect way to cap off a wonderful mid week date.

What's good about L'Artisan is, the owners themselves are always hands on in entertaining their guest. Ma'am Herley is the restaurant manager, while her husband Chef Geoffrey, is the executive chef of the restaurant. The couple is very accomodating and hospitable to their guest, making L'Artisan a place you want to always go back to.

 

L' Artisan is an ideal restaurant to bring your love ones for a date, or for closing a business deal.  I would highly recommend you visit the place. 

So what is the L in L' Artisan? For me, L stands for Love! Love for excellent food, great ambiance, friendly staff and owners. These are the qualities L' Artisan has that's why I'm giving it my highest distinction of 🐷🐷🐷🐷🐷 5 piggies! Bon Appetit!

Trattoriada Gianni.. Why man ani???

Whenever there's a new restaurant that's talk of the town (especially when it is featured on national television and owned by a celebrity) people tend to flock to the new place.  This was mainly the reason why we decided to try Trattoriada Gianni, the newest italian restaurant located at Crossroads in Banilad.

Trattoriada Gianni is owned by famous Cebuano celebrity Matteo Guidicelli.  According to one of the female staff we spoke to, the chef of the restaurant was the chef of Matteo's grandfather, Gianni, for twenty (20) years and has learned italian cooking personally from Senior Gianni himself (thus the name of the restaurant)

We were suppose to dine there two days ago but since we did not made prior reservations, we had to reserve a seat for the next day. Business is really doing good!

When we arrived the following day, we were escorted to our reserved table. The ambiance of the place is pretty impressive. Space is a bit small but cozy.  The restaurant can fit around 40 people max. 

              

We ask for the menu, the waiter handed us wooden chopping boards with the menu attached on it. Very unique!

As we were choosing what food we are going to order, my wife ask the waiter what's the specialty for the week, and since it's a tuesday, we were expecting a special meat dish. The waiter just answered us "mam the US Beef Tenderloin is our specialty of the week" but that's part of the regular menu so what makes it special?

After going through the menu, we decided to try their bruschette for appetizer (140 per piece, choose any 3 pieces for 380 ) we chose smoked salmon with ricotta cheese, Mozarella and Garden Basil and Homemade Pesto. 

For our main course, I chose the Authentic Italian Meatballs for my wife

I also ordered my favorite (and I'm sure it will be yours too once you've tried it) Eggplant Parmagiana

And since the dishes do not come with rice, we decided to order Aglio Olio (in which the waiter pronounced the dish as AGlio Olio 😂)

The Bruschette as appetizer was very filling.  Among the three flavors that we chose, I liked the Smoke Salmon with Ricotta Cheese the best.  It has that perfect mix of smokiness of the salmon and the creaminess of the ricotta cheese.

The Authentic Italian Meatballs was hand down the best dish of the night.  The meatballs were made from fresh meat (you can tell by the taste) handmade and rolled into balls, mixed with the right blend of tomato sauce (made from fresh tomatoes)

The Eggplant Parmagiana was my personal favorite. The eggplant was baked to perfection, mixed together with the right amount of cheese and tomatoes.  The more you eat it, the more you will crave for more.

The most disappointing dish was the AGlio Olio (as the waiter would pronounced it) The pasta was al dente but it was bland! As far as I know,  Aglio Olio should be a bit spicy, a bit garlicky, and a bit oily since the dish is oil based. This dish was a total disaster. The pasta is dry, tasteless and doesn't resemble an aglio olio dish at all! 

My suggestion to Matteo (and I hope this reaches you) if you want your restaurant business to stay open, please train your waiters! It not enough that they know how to write down our orders, they need to know how to read and pronounce the orders properly. You need to educate them what is an antipasti or a mozarelle. Also, please tell your chef to taste your Aglio Olio... 😀

Over-all, the place is worth giving a try. If you're craving for italian home cooking, then try it here. But if you're looking for pizza or gourmet italian dishes, then this is not the place. (I do hope they add pizza in their menu soon) I'm giving Trattoriada Gianni a 🐷🐷🐷🐖 (3 1/2) Piggies out of 5 🐷

To Skillet or not to Skillet for Dinner!

To skillet or not to skillet... that is the question.

My wife and I just came from J Center Mall and was looking for a place to have dinner when my wife mentioned about this new Japanese cafe that opened in the Norkis Cyberpark beside the mall. Since my tastebuds are feeling adventurous tonight, we decided to try the newly opened SKILLET JAPANESE CAFE.

Skillet is a noun which is defined in the dictionary as a small metal frying pan with a long handle. I wonder why that cafe had such a name?

As you enter the cafe, the place is warm and cozy. The design looks like modern comtemporary japanese, very unique. Looks like the owner had a Japanese artist fly in to do the artworks on the wall.

Since we were famished, we decided to let the waiters help us order.  I ordered the Hamburger Steak with Tomato Sauce

While my wife chose Porkloin with Tonkatsi Sauce

We also ordered appetizer which was the Sisig Quesadilla with Special Salsa and Spaghetti Napolitan which according to the waitress was their best-seller!

This is what I call modern Japanese food! The dishes were traditional Japanese dishes with a twist! Its like eating in a Japanese restaurant in Tokyo! After seeing our orders being served, now we know why the name of the cafe is skillet.

The Hamburger Steak with Tomato Sauce was hands down the best dish for the night.  Patties were made of real ground beef, soft and juicy and the tomato sauce was made from fresh tomatoes which was seasoned with Japanese taste, blending perfectly well with the hamburger patties. 

The Sisig Quesadilla was something new.  What made this appetizer stand out was the unique salsa that was on top of the quesadilla. Its like a mix of fresh tomatoes chopped, tamarind puree and sriracha sauce.

The Spaghetti Napolitan also gave my taste buds something to rave about. The pasta was mixed with freshly blended tomato sauce and cream with tomato slices, red and yellow bell peppers (which were cooked to perfection to retain its juiciness), onions and pork loin strips.  It gave the pasta a different twist.

The Porkloin with Tonkatsi Sauce was ok, it was a good dish, provided you will taste it before the other dishes. Since I tasted the Hamburger Steak first, the porkloin came out too plain for me.

Over-all, I am very impressed with Skillet.  This is a new restaurant that I would recommend to all my friends. I even personally congratulated the chef, who is also the owner of the restaurant (he's really hands on in preparing the dishes) for the great dishes he has served.

Skillet Japanese Cafe is located at Norkis Cyberpark along AS Fortuna St (beside J Center Mall) 

Skillet Japanes Cafe gets 4 piggies 🐷🐷🐷🐷 out of 5!

Welcome to FoodEmAll!

We just have to FoodEmAll!

Good day everyone! This will be my first food blog after so many years of hiatus from writing so please do bear with me if there will be some grammatical lapses. I'm also using my iPad Air very reliable so I can quickly update the blog from time to time.

You might be asking, what brings me back to "blogging" if there is such a term. There are basically three main reasons why.

1. I love to write! I think writing not only exercises my brain, it also helps me improve my communication skills. This also serves as my outlet so I can release the stress from work. 😃

2. I love to eat! There, I admit it! I think singing is my passion. Both me and my wife love to eat, it shows in our well rounded figure. So why not share the good food that we have tasted by writing it on a food blog. Which brings me to my 3rd reason ...

3. I love to share! Share the message of good food by telling your friends who can not decide where to eat, what to eat! I hope that through my blog, my friends will be able to enjoy the good food that I have tasted.

Writing is a passion! In this blog, I will do my best to give my readers my honest opinion on the food that I have tasted I do not write so that I can get free meals, I write because I want to share to the world what good food is!

Join me and my wife in this culinary journey of good food in Cebu and the rest of the world!

Welcome to FoodEmAll!